UCHealth Connects With Spanish-Speaking Patients To Promote COVID Vaccine Equity
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) - In an effort to promote vaccine equity, UCHealth repurposed the roles of many interpreters to better reach marginalized communities. Medical interpreters who normally spend their shifts helping patients in the hospital are now calling members of the community who have been selected for the COVID-19 vaccine.
So far the team of 12 medical interpreters has called more than 3,500 Spanish speaking Coloradans to help them get their vaccines.
"Without these phone calls, without this type of help, these messages would be completely lost," said Daniel Mendez, a medical interpreter for UCHealth.
A disproportionate majority of Coloradans who have received the COVID-19 vaccine are white. By deploying their interpreters UCHealth hopes to help more Spanish speakers get their vaccines.
At UCHealth electronic invites for a vaccination are sent out. However, they are written in English. Mendez said many older Spanish speaking patients do not understand the invites or aren't aware they should be looking for them.
By calling up to 500 people a day, Mendez and others are able to help many Spanish speakers get life-saving vaccinations.
"I tell them it is available for them, and it is available now," Mendez told CBS4's Dillon Thomas.
To make sure vaccines are not wasted UCHealth only gives patients 48 hours to RSVP for their vaccine appointment. If someone doesn't respond quickly they are placed back in line.
By calling Spanish-speaking patients who have been selected UCHealth could increase the turnout among that community.
"There's a large chance a lot of these people would not be getting their vaccine (if we didn't call,)" Mendez said.
Mendez said having the opportunity to call patients and tell them they've been selected for the vaccine is much like telling someone they won the lottery. He said many times people are ecstatic.
"We've made calls to 91 year olds and 95 year olds sometimes," Mendez said. "They get the call and are like, 'Me?' And, I'm like, 'Yes, you. You can come. We have the shot available for you!'"
The calls are made by interpreters from Colorado Springs to Wyoming. Mendez said he's called upward of 40 people in three hours before.
So far they've seen a 20% success rate at getting people signed up through the calls. While that may seem low a spokesperson for UCHealth said that's on par with the success rate of calling white patients.
"We don't want any of our patients to miss their place because of miscommunication because they weren't able to understand something that was time sensitive," Mendez said.
